Databricks-provided MCPs
Databricks provides MCPs in the system.ai schema for data and external services. Choose an MCP below, then connect your agent. You don't need to host or register a server.
Each system.ai MCP is a Unity Catalog securable invoked through Unity Gateway. You can govern who invokes them with grants and govern individual calls with policies.
Other workspace MCP endpoints, including the Genie Agent MCP, use permissions on the underlying resources without Unity Gateway governance.
MCP server URL
For any system.ai MCP, use this URL:
https://<workspace-hostname>/ai-gateway/mcp-services/<mcp-name>
Replace <workspace-hostname> with your workspace hostname and <mcp-name> with the full name from the tables below, such as system.ai.dbsql.
Databricks data and tools
To use system.ai.dbsql, system.ai.sandbox, or system.ai.web_search, an account admin must enable the Unity Gateway beta from the account console Previews page. See Manage account previews.
The Genie One MCP is generally available.
MCP | Description |
|---|---|
Recommended for natural-language analytics across your workspace. Answers questions with Genie One, grounded in Genie Ontology. | |
Runs specific SQL queries for development and data engineering on a SQL warehouse, using the caller's Unity Catalog and warehouse permissions. | |
Searches the public web and returns a synthesized answer with citations. | |
Runs Python, SQL, or shell code in an isolated environment. |
Choose between Genie One, Genie Agent, and Databricks SQL MCP servers
For analytics use cases, start with the Genie One MCP server. Genie resolves business terms, metric definitions, and table relationships through Genie Ontology, your governed semantic layer. This produces more accurate answers than an agent writing SQL directly against raw tables.
MCP server | Use case | Governance |
|---|---|---|
Ask natural-language business questions across your workspace. | Unity Gateway grants and policies, plus underlying resource permissions. | |
Ask natural-language questions scoped to one curated Genie Agent, using its tables, instructions, and examples. | Permissions on the Genie Agent and its data. Calls bypass Unity Gateway. | |
Run a specific SQL query, such as validating syntax or authoring a pipeline. | Unity Gateway grants and policies, plus underlying resource permissions. |
External services
If a tool asks you to sign in, open the login link returned by the MCP, authorize access to your provider account, and retry the call. If your organization requires approval, share the app name from the consent screen with your administrator. To sign in before your first call, sign in again, or sign out, see Manage provider sign-in.
MCP | Connects to |
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| Jira and Confluence through the Atlassian Rovo MCP server |
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| SharePoint, Outlook, and Teams through Microsoft Graph |
For the permissions each MCP requests, see Managed OAuth providers. Verify that the provider and your intended use meet your organization's compliance requirements.
Enable GitHub write access and private repository access
By default, system.ai.github can read only public repositories. To access private repositories, or to make changes such as committing files or creating issues and pull requests, the repository owner or a GitHub organization administrator must:
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Install the Databricks GitHub connector app and grant it access to the required repositories.
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If the organization uses an IP allowlist, add the Databricks serverless outbound IPs for your workspace's cloud and region.
Connect your agent
Open Unity Gateway in your workspace and select MCPs. Copy the MCP name, such as system.ai.github, and follow your setup guide:
For clients that require a server URL, use the URL pattern above.
For sign-in, permissions, and connection errors, see MCP authentication.
Limitations
system.ai.web_searchis not available in workspaces with HIPAA/BAA compliance enabled. It is available in supported US regions or in workspaces that allow cross-Geo processing.
system.ai.sandboxdoes not have network egress.system.ai.web_searchandsystem.ai.sandboxaren't available to users with only the consumer access entitlement.
Endpoints not governed by Unity Gateway
These workspace MCP endpoints use permissions on the underlying resources, such as Genie Agents, tables, functions, indexes, and SQL warehouses.
Calls bypass Unity Gateway, so they don't appear in its tracing tables or support MCP-level grants, policies, or guardrails. For new integrations, Databricks recommends the system.ai MCPs in Databricks data and tools and External services when they support your use case.
These endpoints are in Public Preview. Use the Genie Agent endpoint to query a single curated agent, and the AI Search or functions endpoint when your client requires MCP access to those resources.
For these URLs, a workspace administrator must enable Managed MCP Servers on the workspace Previews page.
Use the full server URL below in your MCP client. When using OAuth, request the listed scope.
Server | Server URL | OAuth scope |
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Replace the placeholders with values from your workspace:
- Workspace hostname: Open your workspace and copy the hostname from the browser address bar, without
https://, the path, or query parameters. See Find your workspace URL. - Catalog, schema, and index or function name: Open Catalog and find the index or function. Use the parts of its full name in the URL. For example,
main.tools.lookup_customerbecomesmain/tools/lookup_customer. - Genie space ID: Open the Genie Agent and copy the space ID from its Settings tab.
Use Unity Gateway MCP servers
These MCP servers work with coding agents, desktop MCP clients, and Python agents. Use the Unity Gateway URL and the ai-gateway OAuth scope. Review the MCP's access requirements before switching.
Workspace MCP or tool | Unity Gateway MCP | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Runs SQL through Unity Gateway. | ||
Code interpreter ( |
| Runs Python, SQL, or shell code through MCP. |
Call resources directly from Python agents
For Python agents, Databricks recommends these libraries to call resources directly without MCP. These libraries don't route calls through Unity Gateway.
Resource | Python library | Implementation guide |
|---|---|---|
AI Search indexes | AI Bridge retriever tools | |
Unity Catalog functions |
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Genie Agent | AI Bridge tools |
Workspace endpoint pricing
- Unity Catalog functions use serverless general compute pricing.
- Databricks SQL uses Databricks SQL pricing.
- AI Search indexes use AI Search pricing.